'Shamanism in the Tribal World: A Cross-Cultural Perspective' with Richard Chacon, March 26

Wednesday, March 26, 7:30-9:30 p.m. UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307

Richard Chacon, Ph.D., will discuss his experience and research with indigenous shamans (both in the Amazon and the Andean Highlands) and how contact with the Western World might destroy them.

Richard J. Chacon is an associate professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University. He has conducted anthropological investigations throughout Latin America. He documented the subsistence patterns and belief systems of the Yanomamö of Venezuela, the Yora of Peru and the Achuar (Shiwiar) of Ecuador. He investigated ritual violence among the Otavalo and Cotacachi Indians of Highland Ecuador. Additionally, he studied the traditional belief patterns of the Kuna of Panama. His specializations are in optimal foraging theory, Amerindian subsistence strategies, warfare, ritual violence, native beliefs, the development of complex societies, ethnohistory and the effects of globalization, in addition to analyzing the impacts of missionization on indigenous peoples. He has a special interest in encouraging members of minority communities to pursue higher education. He currently serves as editor for Springer's Anthropology and Ethics Series.

Chacon will also speak at the UAA Campus Bookstore March 24, 5-7 p.m.

March Archive